I was sitting on my cousin's counter, years ago, after helping her get settled in her new house in Phoenix. I was lamenting to my Aunt Nancy. At the time I was discouraged because my brothers were making poor decisions and my relationships with them were suffering. I was explaining to Nancy that I was making noble efforts only to have them rebuffed.
"I took cookies to his new house and it didn't change anything. He doesn't notice my efforts and it isn't changing his life. I don't think I'm going to do anything anymore. I can't be the only one trying. I'm probably just enabling him anyway." Aunt Nancy kindly asked, "Did God tell you to bring the cookies?" I was miffed. "I'm sure God wants me to be nice to my brothers. I- I guess I didn't ask specifically about the cookies." "If you ask the Lord and He tells you to bring cookies and things still don't improve between you and your brother, do you think you could conclude, 'I'm doing what God asked of me and the rest is up to Him'?" All of my controlling, oldest-sibling, results-driven nerves stood on end. "Even if your brothers don't reciprocate, you can have peace that you obeyed what Jesus asked you to do in that relationship." Oh, wait. Something might need to be resolved in me, not just in my brothers? That warm evening, sitting with legs folded on a kitchen counter amidst moving boxes, I experienced a paradigm shift. It didn't change my relationship with my brothers but it turned my expectations and motivation to the Lord. It freed me from trying to control and manipulate. It stopped me from believing it was up to me to turn things around. It caused me to intentionally pray for them, for my own heart, for God's purposes, in a big sense and in the little daily business of baking cookies. I read two separate articles a couple weeks ago that left me unsettled. The first was about parenting. It had great Biblical principles about discipline and loving with grace- all things I agree with. Yet something grated on me and I couldn't put my finger on it. The second was an article on marriage. It was well organized with great helps for marriage: know your spouse's love language, submit to your husband, keep God first and your husband second, only speak edifying words, pray for your spouse. My irritation was building and it surprised me. "What's my problem? This is good stuff." I tried to suppress my reaction.
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5/28/2013 0 Comments New Beginnings Written by Sean Aaron -I believe in what God is doing through my wife with her blog. I have known for so many years that her quiet contemplation and personal disciplines would someday be rewarded by the kind of fruit I am seeing from her writing this blog. So I surprised her this week with a new blog layout and design that I made for her to better showcase her wisdom and stories. I know you are blessed by her and I hope that her words (which is truly backed up by her life) would bring change, conviction, and encouragement for years and years to come. I love you Shilo :)
2/9/2013 0 Comments Wrinkly, Exposed, and Three Sheets to the Wind… Not the Story Usually Told of this Faith HeroThere’s a fascinating little story tucked into the book of Genesis that I keep coming back to. It follows the incredible story of the flood and grand verses of God’s promises to Noah, who must have been feeling pretty good about his life, his standing with God, and the re-building to come. There’s farming going on in chapter 9, a successful vineyard, and… wine. Our faith giant Noah has a few too many. Noah doesn’t need tequila to make his clothes fall off… evidently wine will do it. There he is fallen from grace; naked in his tent. Noah’s son Ham discovers his hammered father sprawled out in the buff and his immediate response is, “Wait ’til I tell the guys!” We’re all familiar with the Hams of the world, gleefully grabbing the phone (or ram’s horn) to pass on today’s humiliation and sin. (It’s okay, Ham- I’m sure you added the Christian, “we should be praying for him” disclaimer at the end. Smooth.) Shem and Japheth don’t respond as Ham anticipated. They “took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away and they did not see their father’s nakedness.” Genesis 9:23. It brings tears every time I read they went backwards, indicating how far above and beyond they went to cover their father in love. "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:11-13 These verses keep worming into my mind. I’ve always skimmed them because it’s quite obvious to me that a good God doesn’t give His children stones to eat. Plus, I’m a parent. I understand wanting to give my kids good gifts. Darla recently had her 8th birthday and I was nearly as giddy as she was. Watching her be blessed and humbly thankful was a bright spot in my January. 10/26/2012 0 Comments Haley Kate Taylor!There are hundreds of small things to celebrate under the umbrella of official adoption and in this moment it’s that I no longer have to refer to our youngest as “Little Girly” publicly but can use her full new name, Haley Kate Taylor.
Celebrations have been in full swing this week. Yesterday afternoon as I was preparing for Haley’s adoption party, I heard a knock on our front door. I swung it open and had a “pause… wait for it…” moment as I realized my dear friend Jill and her daughter from southwest WA were grinning at me with an armful of flowers. After my “what-the-heck-is-going-on” pause followed by many tears, they were swept up in the celebration whirlwind with the rest of us. 4/30/2012 0 Comments Curtain GlimpsesAfter a nearly two year stint doing other things, S. returned in December to the church that in a sense, raised us. We started there after only a year of marriage and spent eight years learning and building a ministry.
Now being back, ministry looks somewhat different. We, certainly, have grown and changed. We knew there would be surprises and didn’t know what to expect after time away. Without question, the biggest surprise and kindest gift God gave was adding former students back into our lives. When I showed up to train new leaders in January I was humbled to see about eight former students who have returned to lead small groups or serve in various capacities. The same week I received an email from a former student (turned friend) who serves as a missionary in Argentina. I remember when this beautiful missionary was an awkward, broken middle schooler struggling with addiction and deep loneliness. I remember being overwhelmed at my lack of insight or ability to meet her needs. I couldn’t be everything she needed but I did know the One who is, so with my shortcomings I simply pointed her to Him. I felt like it wasn’t enough- not enough time spent, not enough wisdom to pull her through, not enough prayers for what she was going through. Yet I learned having her in my small group that God isenough. He spent time with her, He began speaking and giving her wisdom, He surrounded her with other believers to walk with her. When she wrote me this winter she was preparing to go India for an outreach and said: Did you ever imagine 9 years ago this is where I would be? You may never leave Lynden my friend, but people all over the world know now Jesus because of your investment in one little girl. Way to gain inheritance in the nations my dear friend A little love goes a long way. I love you! And that’s for spending time on me : ) I cried. I thanked God. I was encouraged and drawn to my knees realizing that my flawed efforts were used in a mighty way. The fantastic thing about doing one thing for an extended amount of time is the perspective it brings. My heart has been broken over many students’ choices and over their own heart breaks. I’ve prayed, agonized, and worried about many of them. After a decade in ministry I have seen God’s faithfulness. I have seen many who walked away return. We have had former students show up at our door for many reasons this year. They’ve come to announce an engagement, to ask for advice about future plans, or for prayer over personal struggles. Some still come for food and our kids invite them to their birthday parties. In these few months we have already cringed at some of our current students making poor choices. Working with people is never clean. Investing our hearts can be exhausting. Hearing that another disappearing student was picked up by the cops is disheartening. My aunt once told me that sometimes in life it’s as if we have a curtain in front of us and we’re unable to see what God is doing behind the curtain. It looks fruitless, hopeless, and mystifying. Then in certain moments He (and here’s where she mimics pulling back a curtain with her sparkly painted nails and opens wide her animated eyes) pulls back the curtain and gives us just a glimpse- “Oh! A glimpse!” of the amazing things He is orchestrating. The glimpses excite and fuel us to continue on in His work. When I walk into a youth ministry night to see our amazing student led band lead students in worship, I experience a moment of the curtain being pulled back. 5/18/2010 0 Comments Celebrating Sean's 32 Years"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations." Isaiah 61:1-4
When S. first found this passage he thought, "This is what I want to do! This is God's passage to me!" Then later the Lord showed Him that this is what JESUS does. Because S. has Jesus in him, Jesus can accomplish these things through him but it is not S. himself accomplishing it. I would venture to say that in this past year Jesus has done these thingsFOR S. S. has been the poor, he has been the brokenhearted. He spent the first half of 31 "bound". His salvation was never in question, but the war going on in his soul was not making him feel free or healed. Thankfully, Jesus continues the good work He begins in us. This year Christ has given liberty to my husband, He has comforted S. in his mourning, given him beauty within ashes, and has sent roots deep. Jesus is rebuilding old ruins. I'm confident that God will still use Jesus in S. to accomplish these things in the lives of others. This year I'm simply thankful that Jesus is doing it in the life of the one I love. I'm thankful for a husband receptive to the Lord. S. has modeled humility, determination, and a willingness to receive whatever the Lord purposes. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isaiah 61:10-11 Happy birthday, Love- I'm looking forward to 32 with you! 3/6/2010 0 Comments A 2 Week BlurI can't quit yawning and couldn't figure out why. I did get nearly 8 hrs of sleep last night. Then I glanced at my calendar and remembered the last 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago we decided to move back up to our old house. S. was getting ready to teach at a retreat so I decided to do most the packing when he was gone. Unfortunately, the morning he left Everett woke up with a double ear infection. I spent half the day in urgent care with him, the other half rocking him. The next day he fell at my mom's house and got skid marks on his face to prove it. Add to his world boxes, a busy mom, a dad gone, his toys packed, and you get a little man who needs a lot of attention and affirmation. Needless to say, I didn't get much done over the weekend. When S. returned he had a job interview in Lynden at a radio station. The next day he drove to Portland and back for a job interview at Luis Palau's organization. As I was knee high in boxes and packing paper, S. called and said, "Palau wants to fly us to San Diego to check out their festival and meet Luis himself. That's where we would move first if we take this job. How does Sunday work for us?" The following day we moved while on the phone with Palau booking tickets and lining up care for the kids. We had 3 days to get ready for San Diego, unpack our house, cancel & start utilities, and stock up on groceries. 1/21/2010 0 Comments Rest"In silence and peace a devout soul makes progress and learns the secrets of the Scriptures." -Thomas A Kempis
Attending a church with the slogan “always a place for you” gives me warm fuzzies. Ahhh, I’m welcome, loved, and they have to accept me- their slogan says it!
Christ the King has a heart for lost and broken people, a model comprising of small groups, a vision to keep the main thing the main thing.In being part of the CTK story I have learned that a church that draws transparent people is always adventure. It isn’t always warm fuzzies…but itis always adventure. We regularly hear crazy stories of where people have been, how Christ has redeemed their life, and look forward to future with them. In over eight years of full time ministry you start to think “we’ve seen it all”.There were 3 weeks this fall when this was proven wrong. |
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February 2020
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